Airtel will not cut call, data prices further

Amid huge bleeding in the last few quarters, Bharti Airtel won't reduce call and data prices further, it said.

Bharti Airtel posted nearly 72% fall in net profit for the three months through December 31 at Rs 86 crore compared with a profit of Rs 306 crore in the year-ago quarter.

KOLKATA: Cellular services major Bharti Airtel believes that amid huge bleeding in the last few quarters the company will not reduce call and data prices further, and as only three big players are vying for the India's telecom pie, the market will stabilise with the improvement of ARPUs (average revenue per user), a key performance parameter.

Talking to TOI on the sidelines of the recently concluded 5th Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) here, Rajan Bharti Mittal, the VC & MD of Bharti Enterprises, said: "The price (plan price) is already so very low…There is always a pressure on price but something must move the needle. The market needs to improve. And we hope that it will happen. The market structure needs to be managed and pricing needs to move up."

Replying to a question on whether he could see a ray of hope during this turbulent days for telecom operators other than Reliance Jio, he said: "Now, only three players (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio) are left. I believe that the market will stabilize now along with the improvement of ARPUs (average revenue per user). The worst could be over."

The onset of Reliance Jio's low pricing strategy has seen the other telecom players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea bleeding profusely in the recent quarterly results. Bharti Airtel posted nearly 72% fall in net profit for the three months through December 31 at Rs 86 crore compared with a profit of Rs 306 crore in the year-ago quarter, while Vodafone Idea, India's largest telecom firm by number of subscribers, reported a marginal increase in net loss of Rs 5,005 crore in the same quarter.

In the third quarter of the current financial year, Reliance Jio had posted an ARPU of 130, which way ahead of Bharti Airtel (104) and Vodafone Idea (89).

Bharti Airtel, too, had recently increased the benefits of its popular monthly Rs 199 plan with 1.5GB per day (42GB for 28 days),100 national SMSs per day and unlimited calls. Vodafone Idea too offers a similar Rs 119 pack and its customers get unlimited voice calling and 1GB data with 28 days validity. On the other hand, Reliance Jio's Rs 98 plan offers 2GB data for 28 days, 300 SMSs, unlimited voice calling and national roaming.

The Bharti Enterprises VC also urged the government to cut down the GST rate on the telecom sector. "And now the government must now also step in and help the telecom operators by reducing levy and GST. " Mittal said: "You have seen that the market is growing and we are holding a big market share everywhere in India. Every year, we end up investing close to $3 billion in the telecom arena in India."

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